Thursday, October 23, 2014

International POW Day of Action

Press release from PRO International Committee to Support the Irish POW’s.

Support our prisoners on 4th Annual International POW-Day!

The 4th Annual International Day in support of the Irish Prisoners of War held in Maghaberry, Portlaoise, Hydebank, and Magilligan jails will be held on October 24, 25, and 26. Since 2011, the International POW-Day for Irish Republican prisoners is held annually on the last weekend of October. As last year, the POW-Day is organised by the independent “International Committee to Support the Irish Prisoners of War.”
The last weekend of October is a historical date for Irish Republicans. On October 25, 1917, the Ard-Fheis of Sinn Féin adopted a Republican Constitution. Three years later, Sinn Féin’s Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, died after 74 days on hunger strike. Furthermore, Joseph Murphy died on hunger strike in Cork prison on that day. On October 27, 1980, the first H-Block hunger strike began, and on October 26, 1976, Máire Drumm, Vice-President of Sinn Féin, was murdered in the Mater Hospital, Belfast, by a loyalist death squad. Finally, on the last day of October 1973, the helicopter escape from Mountjoy jail took place.

In 2014, to mark these historical events as well as highlighting the plight of today’s Irish Republican POW’s, protests and pickets will be held in Ireland, England, Scotland, Continental Europe, North America, and Australia. A detailed and constantly updated list of events and protests is available from here:

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Anthony McIntyre

Former IRA volunteer and ex-prisoner, spent 18 years in Long Kesh, 4 years on the blanket and no-wash/no work protests which led to the hunger strikes of the 80s. Completed PhD at Queens upon release from prison. Left the Republican Movement at the endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement, and went on to become a journalist. Co-founder of The Blanket, an online magazine that critically analyzed the Irish peace process.